Thursday, May 14, 2009

5-15-09

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm flying home and I can't wait to be there. There's something about flying into Philly for me... something I've done a few times a year for the last 4 years. I know the airport like the back of my hand, and since I always fly South.west, I could walk to the baggage claim with my eyes closed! I love the drive from the airport back to Wilmington...away from the city, by the marina that's owned by my friend's grandfather, through the slums of Chester that are on the side of I-95 (not beautiful, but still, a part of the area between Philly and Wilmington).

For some reason, in the last week or so, I've been having to explain to a lot of different people where exactly Wilmington, Delaware is located. And not just where the city of Wilm. is located in the state, but like, what states surround DE. Do people really not know their geography that badly? I had two people ask me if Delaware bordered New York, and one person ask if "that big bay splits Delaware and New Jersey" .....

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Those awesome Mac commercials will never, ever get old! There's so many, and each one is even more clever than the one before it.

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The Grey's Anatomy season finale was tonight. I cried like a baby - but was surprised when, within the first few minutes of the show, one of the surgeons preparing to do a Neuroblastoma tumor surgery. In my opinion, the more Neuroblastoma and pediatric cancer is thrust into the spotlight, the more attention and funding it will eventually receive. Yes, there are statistically more Breast Cancer cases, but B.C. has a much higher survival rate. It's also important to talk about the pediatric cancers that may have technically less cases (as opposed to Leukemia, for example). More attention = hopefully more funding for research/treatments!

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I'm off to finish my laundry and start packing up! I'll be back on Wednesday, and I'll be sure to check in sometime over the weekend. On Saturday the plan is to take my grandparents to the WWII memorial in Washington, DC. My grandmother's brother died while in training for the war, so it's very important to her. I'll be sure to bring my camera!

For about two seconds I was happy about the Neuroblastoma drop...but you do not make shiny with something that kills more kids than live. She introduced it all perky like...and then the child of eight had such an easy surgery (which WE know at that age their odds are significantly lower and tumor removal is probably complicated) and he was perfectly fine when all the depressed doctors went in to see him...not like I've seen any post-op kid. I think it was a poor example to show "the kids you CAN save" as she put it.

I'm so glad you brought that up!! I actually thought the SAME thing! She even said the words "He'll make a full recovery" after the surgery went well... was she talking about a full recovery from cancer?! As happy as I was about the name drop, somehow it didn't really seem to portray what is the truth- and I was almost saddened when things went perfectly and he was so great post-op, surrounded by people and happiness. However, I'm sure that some writer just googled "pediatric cancers" and chose one that wasn't Leukemia.

yeah - the neuroblastoma thing was a little weird - I was glad that they mentioned it, but seriously they didn't even make the kid look sick. When I had my appendix I looked worse and that kid had tumor surgery. I guess they needed a childhood cancer where a surgery takes place.